


Ever After

by jesseofthenorth



Series: Will you still need me (like that beatles song)? When I'm 64 [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, Happily Ever After, M/M, Schmoop, complete absence of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-28
Updated: 2014-03-28
Packaged: 2018-01-17 07:34:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1379290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesseofthenorth/pseuds/jesseofthenorth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint reads</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ever After

Clint reads to Phil now. It's just one of those things. Phil is not embarrassed by his failing eyesight and he will wear the horrendous old man glasses for the rest of his life if he has to, but Phil has absolutely no problem admitting he prefers it when Clint reads to him. Phil can still get through a newspaper or one of the hundreds of books on the shelves (and stacks on the floor beside the shelves) in their 'library'. He just likes it when Clint reads to him. And he doesn't get a headache from the small print when he sits back in his chair and lets Clint's slightly gravelly voice wash over the both of them.

Clint was not a proficient reader when they first met. Phil had a shelf of beloved volumes in his office then. After several weeks of surreptitiously watching Clint peruse those books, never touching and never asking if he could read one, Phil sent Clint back to his quarters with a stack of vastly different books just see if he would even try to read them. Phil hadn't missed the way Clint's eyes cut away when he admitted he didn't read for enjoyment. That admission did not stop Phil from trying to foster even a small love of books in a man he suspected had a great deal of native intelligence that had gone mostly undeveloped. When Clint came back a couple of days later holding the copy of the Hobbit Phil had pushed on him and asked if there were any other books by that author Phil made no effort to hide his satisfaction.

 

Little did he know Clint would be reading and enjoying Tolkien thirty years later. Phil might not be able see the small print in the paper back Clint was holding but he had no problem identifying the quiet happy look on his still handsome face.

“Feel like reading it to me again?” Phil asked.

“Aren't you ever going to get tired of this book?”

“Are you?” Phil shot back, settling into the space left on the love seat.

“Hey! You have a thirty year head start on me” Clint grinned and turned to the opening page.

“Better get started then.” Phil settled his sock feet into Clint's lap and let that beloved familiar voice wash over him while Clint lowered the hand holding the book onto Phil's ankles.

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”


End file.
